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Comment by daveguy | Hacker News Reader

Until self check-out becomes faster and less obnoxious than having a skilled cashier do the job faster I don't think we need to worry at a large scale. We aren't going to be talking to robot waiters any time soon. If Carl's Jr. puts a glorified soda machine as my fast food interface I'll go to McDonald's where I can give my order in 10 seconds instead of fumbling with a machine for 2 minutes.

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All the local McDonald's here have installed self-ordering kiosks. They're fast and seem very popular. I personally find it significantly easier and faster than waiting in line and talking to an actual human. (And this is coming from someone who hates self-checkout lines at grocery stores.)

> We aren't going to be talking to robot waiters any time soon.

Robot waiters? Probably not. But using our phones to order delivery, self-ordering kiosks, ipads on tables? The future is already here, and it's increasingly automated. (Perhaps not coincidentally, the latest employment numbers show a sharp dip in the employment among food service employees.)

YMMV. I was not impressed by the machine - it presented way too many choices and didn't promote the UI to make the process easier than speaking to a human, in my view.

Maybe after about 10 times when you've "learned the menu" you might find it easier.

I'd LOVE an automated kiosk (or even person) that let me specify some numeric encoding of my entire order.

I always order the same thing at In-n-Out, for example, and would love to say, "Give me a 557-343-901-043" -- or better yet, scan a QR code that had what I want to order. And they have just about the simplest menu ever! (one reason I love them) If I could do that at other fast food restaurants, or Starbucks, where you might want to order the same Very Specific thing, without having to go through the tedium of explaining it or entering it into a kiosk / web form every time, I bet it would be a huge thing.

I will be surprised if Starbucks doesn't let you do this already, or isn't working on it.

Why not just do what Taco Bell does and have a mobile app for (re)ordering stuff? You can even order ahead of time and just have it ready for pickup/dine-in.

I think the solution there is actual mobile apps, that can have an order history for you, a re-order last order button, etc. Just pull open your phone, make your order, and walk in store to pick it up.

I make the same order every time at my local burger chain, but I make it using an app from my desk, scheduled to be ready by the time I get to the store. Literally the best solution from my point of view.

This is also (coincidentally!) the product the company I work for offers. :)

> All the local McDonald's here have installed self-ordering kiosks. They're fast and seem very popular. I personally find it significantly easier and faster than waiting in line and talking to an actual human. (And this is coming from someone who hates self-checkout lines at grocery stores.)

I have had fast-food workers mess up my order so many times that I'd rather just give it to a machine.

There are few things more annoying than taking my food to the table, seeing something on it that shouldn't be, walking back to the counter, saying "Excuse me, I asked for no lettuce or tomato", and waiting for them to re-make it.

I agree. It can also go the other way though. I sometimes order almond milk from Starbucks. If I give the order to a human I can make some judgement as to whether they have misunderstood and correct them, or outright ask them to confirm their understanding. If I give the order to the app then the app understands perfectly but I will have to sort out any subsequent human misunderstanding after it's been made. My local branch have got it wrong twice in 5 attempts via the app (they tend to assume I want coffee with almond milk because what crazy person just wants almond milk)

If you are talking about fast food, I would opt for self checkout so that I can place my order in 10 seconds instead of waiting 2 min for a cachier to fumble with the machine. (or miss understand me, or punch it in wrong, or whatever) Grant it, not all cachiers are terrible but consistency in fast food sells, and machines are consistent.

> We aren't going to be talking to robot waiters any time soon.

Nope, but in Japan in some cheap sushi joints, you can order your sushi on a tablet, and it is delivered to you via an automatic tray which knows exactly your seating location. No need to having "robot waiters" going around.

If Carl's Jr. puts a glorified soda machine as my fast food interface...

Idiocracy has it right again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW-4LU79qbU

I think lots of automation will exist and already does in our economy in manufacturing, technology and many areas. However some automation isn't as desired by the consumer directly and ends up making more work like this salad bot.

First off, unless it is self cleaning it seems like it will take at least one attendant to refill and clean it.

Secondly, it looks like a food poisoning haven as lettuce is many times the culprit there.

Next, it looks like it will waste tons of product, which will be left in multiple days and goes back to the food poising or general bad ingredients.

The maintenance, cleaning, inventory/ingredient management and more make this probably not that great of an idea unless it is pumping out salads in a factory, as a vending machine it seems to be automation just to automate. I personally would not want a salad out of a vending machine.

Kiosk ordering is something that automation is probably good for, making the salad though on demand? Probably not.

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